In a context where an index is maintained for a database table and the index key consists of one or more columns of the table, there might be a point in time when the index is either lost or otherwise unavailable due to one reason or another. In such instances, the index will need to be rebuilt. To accurately rebuild the index, index keys should be sorted by the order of the key values. One consideration with rebuilding a database table index might be what is the minimum information (e.g., the number of bits in index keys) to retain, to sort the index keys correctly. This minimum information should be sufficient to determine the correct sorted order of index keys from which the index can be rebuilt.
In some scenarios including a database replication, an index created in a master server should be reflected in other replicas. One method of accomplishing this task is to send the index image to other replicas over a network. However, this method incurs a network overhead that can be a performance bottleneck of the replication system. Another index replication method may include a replay of the index creation in the replicas to avoid the network overhead. Some other approaches might seek improvements in index replication or rebuilding by attempting to determine if there is some information that might be used to reduce the cost of index creation in the replicas.
In some contexts, there may exist a desire to more efficiently perform index rebuilding operations, while conserving system resources.